By Melissa Woods

Nick Kyrgios has confirmed he will make his long-awaited return to competitive tennis at the Brisbane International after playing only one Tour match in more than two years.

The 29-year-old firebrand has been mostly sidelined with career-threatening wrist and knee injuries since the 2022 US Open quarter-finals.

That run came six weeks after reaching the Wimbledon decider when he came closest to an elusive major crown before falling in four sets to Novak Djokovic.

Also stating his intentions to play in the 2025 Australian Open, Kyrgios will be a headline act at the Brisbane International, which gets underway on December 29.

Before that he’s set to play in the World Tennis League exhibition event in Abu Dhabi, with the mixed team event also attracting the likes of Iga Swiatek, Casper Ruud, Aryna Sabalenka, Taylor Fritz and Daniil Medvedev.

Kyrgios was a late withdrawal from the Australian Open in 2023 due to a knee injury that required surgery, before having to pull out of the French Open later that year with a foot issue.

A winner of seven titles on the ATP Tour, Kyrgios subsequently tore a ligament in his wrist that also needed surgery with his last Tour match a short-lived return to grass at Stuttgart in June 2023.

Currently unranked, the one-time world No.13 said he was excited to resume his career in front of home fans.

“Honestly, this is probably the best I’ve felt in two years,” he told 9News Melbourne.

“I played that amazing year in 2022. Then at the finals in Wimbledon and US Open, that’s when I started feeling some issues in my wrist. I had that wrist reconstruction and now I’m feeling amazing.

“It was a 15 miracle per cent chance that I was going to get back to playing at this level and here we are.

“To get back out there in front of the home fans is going to be sick.”